3D

Far Cry v1.33

Quake 4 v1.04

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Futuremark 3DMark05 b1.2.0

Notes

See, we do have 'em. Conroe and Allendale at your service.

We had no problems in running the Core 2-based CPUs in an Intel D975XBX 'Bad Axe' rev. 304 motherboard. Motherboard vendors are now adding Core 2 Duo support to their line of i975X boards. We're adamant that all the top tier guys have compliant boards. However, should you wish to jump on the 965-Express bandwagon, that's fine too.

Rather than give you all the treats at once, we'll wait a couple of days before showing you Core 2 Extreme X6800 performance on i975X vs P965.

We've added in all but one Core 2 Duo processor in our line-up here, and we've compared performance to the fastest Presler CPU around, the Pentium Extreme Edition 965. Further, we've added in benchmark results from AMD's Athlon 64 FX-62 and 4600+ CPUs, both run on a reference ATI Sturgeon AM2-supporting motherboard. This way, we feel, you'll better appreciate where each Core 2 Duo processor lies in relation to the competition.

On a heat-related note, using a reference LGA775 heatsink the Core 2 Extreme X6800 idled at 53C in BIOS and the 2MiB cache-equipped E6400 at 44C. Windows load temperatures were similar to these figures. Bear in mind that ambient temperature was 27C and no extra cooling, other than CPU fan, was directed towards the CPUs.

We'll be taking a look at overclocking a retail, off-the-shelf Core 2 Duo next week, rather than offer numbers from engineering samples, so stay tuned for that.